by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports

by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports

In honor of Sunday's Academy Awards, we looked through the past 50 years of film and came up with nominees and winners for a Sports Movie Oscars.

Best Picture

Bull Durham

Caddyshack

Field of Dreams

He Got Game

Hoosiers

Major League

Rocky

FIrst, the major snub that's not a snub: Martin Scorcese's masterpiece Raging Bull didn't make our list. It's not because Ordinary People is the superior film or Robert De Niro's work in Analyze That is preferred, it's just that the Jake LaMotta biopic doesn't feel like a sports movie. If you're sitting at a bar with friends and debating your favorite sports films, Raging Bull doesn't come up.

If you disagree, chances are you could make a convincing case to sway this opinion. But it wouldn't be an Oscars without curious decisions that can only loosely be defended and will look stupid in retrospect. (Jerry Maguire, which may or may not have made the list, wasn't considered for the same reason.)

The comedies are among the most quotable movies of the past 30 years. Rocky won the real Best Picture. And though Field of Dreams is a popular punching bag amongst people with no feelings, it remains a classic.

Hoosiers gets the nod. It's the best David vs. Goliath tale since the original. It's always watchable -- the music is an instant hook -- and is one of those films where you find yourself saying, "this is my favorite part" a dozen times before your actual favorite part comes on. (For me: Coach Dale's look that gets Buddy to say "Dentyne.")

Winner: Hoosiers

Best actor

Kevin Costner, Bull Durham

Gene Hackman, Hoosiers

Dennis Hopper, Hoosiers

Paul Newman, Slap Shot

Sylvester Stallone, Rocky

Hopper and Stallone were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, while Newman and Costner were perfect in playing extended versions of themselves. No one did it better than Hackman.

Winner: Gene Hackman (Hoosiers)

Best actress

Hillary Swank, Million Dollar Baby

Geena Davis, A League of Their Own

Tatum O'Neal, The Bad News Bears

Susan Sarandon, Bull Durham

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Each of these women have won Oscars in their career -- Swank and Bullock for their roles in sports films. The poise of Davis saved A League of Their Own from Tom Hanks' early-career overacting and Sarandon was perfectly cast to portray the smoldering Annie Savoy. The 13-year-old O'Neal had already won her Academy Award by the time she played Amanda Whurlizer. Her scenes with Walter Matthau are perfect.

Winner: Tatum O'Neal (Bad News Bears)

Best Documentary

Hoop Dreams

Murderball

Pumping Iron

Senna

When We Were Kings

The 1994 classic Hoop Dreams deservedly holds the spot atop most lists of sports documentaries, but it hasn't aged well for such a timeless story. When We Were Kings, the story of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman's "Rumble in the Jungle," feels as fresh as when it was filmed (1974) and released (1996). Ali, bumaye!

The swings of Haysbert, throws of Reynolds and jump shots of Washington don't make you think they'd have been Hall of Famers if those respective sports, but they're good enough that you'll never remember you're watching an actor. Similarly, Costner's golf swing isn't making anyone forget about Ben Hogan. Still, there's something in that backswing and follow-through that make it totally believable that he's on the 18th hole of the U.S. Open with a chance to win. Or maybe it was just the CBS graphics and Jim Nantz calling the action.

Winner: Kevin Costner (Tin Cup)

Best acting performance by an athlete

Ray Allen, He Got Game

Jim Brown, The Dirty Dozen

Andre The GIant, The Princess Bride

Alex Karras, Blazing Saddles

If Spike Lee had cast anyone other than Ray Allen for He Got Game, it would have been a disaster. Allen was perfect for the role and wins this category with ease. (That's not to diminish Andre the Giant and his portrayal of Fezzick. Anybody want a peanut?)

Winner: Ray Allen (He Got Game)

Worst picture

Caddyshack II

Driven

Juwanna Mann

Major League: Back to the Minors

Radio

The sequels are money grabs; the cross-dressing comedy is exactly like Tootsie, only without that film's charm, wit, humor and nuance and Driven was the umpteenth Sly Stallone comeback clunker (though Joe Tanto is a fantastic name for an aging CART driver with an inability to enunciate.) They're all bad, but Radio is the worst kind. It uses a mentally-challenged character to attempt to manipulate audiences into thinking they're watching something powerful instead of exploitive.

Winner: Radio

Worst acting performance by an athlete

Hulk Hogan, The Nanny

Tommy Morrison, Rocky V

Gheorghe Muresan, My Giant

Penny Hardaway, Blue Chips

O.J. Simpson, The Towering Inferno

For as funny as he was in The Naked Gun movies, O.J. couldn't (can't?) act his way out of a burning building, as his stilted turn in the 1970s blockbuster showed.

Winner: O.J. Simpson (The Towering Inferno)

Worst athletic performance by an actor

Michael J. Fox, Teen Wolf

Corbin Bernsen, Major League

Matt LeBlanc, Ed

Anthony Perkins, Fear Strikes Out

Tim Robbins, Bull Durham

When all the laurels are bestowed upon Bull Durham, one thing that gets ignored is how unconvincing Tim Robbins is as a minor league pitcher. His Luis Tiant windup looks like it'd get him to 45 mph on the radar gun, tops. And why is he always so sweaty?

Evaluating Fox's performance in Teen Wolf is tougher. Scott isn't supposed to be good at basketball before he turns into the wolf. And when he's the wolf, there are conspicuous wide shots when Scott dribbles and tight shots when he dunks, thus obscuring the stunt double and trampolines, respectively. When Scott appears in the championship game with non-wolf capabilities, his lack of athletic abilities are supposed to be overcome by a newfound confidence. But there's a fine line between scrappy and uses-two-hands-to-dribble.

Winner: Michael J. Fox (Teen Wolf)

Worst acting performance by an NBA player in a semi-animated film

Michael Jordan, Space Jam

Charles Barkley, Space Jam

Larry Bird, Space Jam

Shaquille O'Neal, Kazaam

Shawn Bradley, Space Jam

We're calling this one a five-way tie. If there was a best actor category, Muggsy Bogues wins, hands down.

Best athlete cameo

Cam Neely, Dumb & Dumber

Lee Trevino, Happy Gilmore

Mike Tyson, The Hangover

Brett Favre, There's Something About Mary

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Airplane

The previews gave away the surprise, countless viewings on HBO and TNT have played it out and the awfulness of the sequel makes you forget how good the original one was. The first appearance by Mike Tyson in The Hangover is still fantastic, nonetheless.